St. Stephen feastday

Burning candles at the spot where
St. Stephen was killed

It's the feast of St. Stephen ... his martyrdom just 200 meters from my house. It's bizarre that the day after Christmas we celebrate martyrdom but that's what the message is all about: Christ was born to suffer and die in order to save us all ... and Stephen was the first example of a disciple following the Master's footsteps. There was the annual pilgrimage to the spot of his killing and solemn vespers was sung there by the Franciscans ... the sanctuary was once under the Franciscans but was later occupied by the Greek Orthodox till today. But once a year on the Feast of St. Stephen the Franciscans have the right to celebrate Vespers there. Today it was a little crowded ... most people were sick from the rain last night at Bethlehem.

Young Adult group meeting the
Archbishop

And it was no holiday for me even though I really really wanted one. By 6am I was out at the Ivrea convent for mass with the old sisters there. Then it was out in the central library to prepare for a meeting with a group and the Custody leaders. Then it was bringing the group to visit some sites not seen by tourists before coming back to Jerusalem to present the group to the Archbishop of the Holy Land. The group of young adults had specially come to present funds which they had raised in 2 weeks to support the poor in the Holy Land. The Archbishop and the Franciscan Custody were very grateful to these young people who were so generous - they had thought of the poor in the Holy Land this Christmas and wanted to make a difference. Now after 14 hours of work outside, I finally arrived home. Utterly exhausted and wishing tomorrow will not come. School reopens.

Mind you yesterdays storm was welcomed by everyone who understands the need for water. Here's an interesting article on the rain.  http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/blessed-rain-washes-away-six-days-of-dust/

And on a frightening more ... Iranian backed forces have moved to the Syrian Israeli border. Not good news at all.  http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Syrian-Iranian-backed-forces-advance-in-border-near-northern-Israel-519960

And as we remember St. Stephen's killing ... here's a real story of injustice  https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/iraq/.premium-1.830921